DALLAS – At the end, mere seconds after the Lakers lost to the Dallas Mavericks 101-96 on Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant went over to the first row of seats to embrace Jay-Z and Beyonce, and not exactly in that order.

What else could he do?

A quick meet-and-greet courtside at the American Airlines Center was perhaps the best way to move ahead after Bryant and the Lakers lacked the zip they displayed 24 hours earlier while defeating the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Lakers had their chances in the closing minutes. Bryant missed what would have been a tying 3-pointer and then Pau Gasol failed to control the rebound with 23.7 seconds remaining and the Mavericks ahead by 97-94.

Indeed, little things cost the Lakers. For instance, they were outrebounded 41-36. They gave up 13 offensive rebounds to the Mavericks. The Lakers also had 17 turnovers. They shot only 16 free throws to 26 for the Mavericks.

Ordinarily, that sort of balance means big trouble for the Lakers’ opponents, but not Wednesday, when the Mavericks countered with 31 points from Dirk Nowitzki and 30 points from backup guard Jason Terry.

Postgame opinions differed about whether Bryant was fatigued while playing on the second consecutive night after missing five straight games because of a strained peroneal tendon in his left ankle. His last game before Tuesday was Feb. 5.

Jackson said it was noticeable.

Artest said of Bryant, “(He) never gets tired.”

Added Gasol, “I don’t know how he was feeling. I think he was trying to be aggressive and trying to set up the other guys. (Fatigue) is always a factor (when playing on back-to-back nights). We can’t use it as an excuse, though.”

Dallas held a 95-86 lead inside the final three minutes, but the Lakers rallied on Odom’s driving layup and free throw after he was fouled. After Terry’s jumper, Odom swished a 3-pointer and Bryant followed with a driving layup to cut it to 97-94.

The Lakers would get no closer, however.

“They wanted it more than we did,” Gasol said. “They pursued it harder. I think it’s time to step it up a notch and not let it come down to the wire every night. We have to do a better job of playing harder down the stretch.”

The Lakers seemed poised to run away from the Mavericks in the closing minutes of the first half, taking a 48-39 lead thanks to a 10-0 run. But Dallas countered with a 10-2 run to end the half trailing by only 50-49.

One night after scoring 32 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left in the Lakers’ victory over the Grizzlies, Bryant started by going scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting in the first quarter.

Bryant exited the game when the first quarter ended and did not return until there was 6:01 left in the half. The Lakers led 23-20 at the end of the first and were ahead 38-37 when he returned to the game.

Artest and Odom each scored 11 points to lead the Lakers in the first half. Neither had a particularly fine offensive game against Memphis, but they were effective on drives to the basket in the early going against the Mavericks.

In fact, the Lakers had no problem getting to the basket against the Mavs’ porous defense, particularly in the second quarter. They had 10 of their first 13 points in the period on layups. Odom’s 3-pointer was the lone exception.

Meanwhile, some of the intrigue was missing in the first meeting between the teams since the Mavericks acquired Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson from the Washington Wizards earlier this month.

Haywood and Stevenson were in the Mavericks’ starting lineup, but Butler was absent after experiencing a negative reaction to some undisclosed medication. Butler, a former Laker, helped the Mavericks to a 4-1 record in the first five games since the trade.

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.